Thanks to the kindness and goodwill of the bands, the staff and the punters, the Musicians Benefit Gig at the Raven was an absolute success. An approximate figure of £1400 was raised to help the victims of the practice room robbery.
 
Thursday night started well with the excellent 70's rock cover band, Jimi James & the Blue Flames. Some rockin' interpretations of classics like "Whole Lotta Love" and "Hey Joe" warmed the crowd up nicely for the local Modfather, Tut.
  A mixture of 60's English beat music and stoner blues lightened the mood and chilled out the capacity crowd as he crooned his way amiably through his set, a natural song-writer who's been treading the boards for years now.
     Next up were argueably the best singing partnership to come out of St.Helens since Pete and Andy from Poisoned Electrick Head. Backed by a solid rhythm section Tray of Seagulls blew the crowd away and left them drooling for more, which they gave willingly.
   Then it was our turn. We opened with the new song "Lune" which was alright apart from my effects turning themselves off before I'd even struck a note. The crowd responded brilliantly to favourites like 13 Seconds and Are We The Monkies?. The only let down was that there wasn't enough time for an encore.
 
 
Friday night started off laid-back with the crafty talents of Monseur Crum. His solid guitar and voice combo providing the first half hour of entertainment very well indeed. Next up was another accoustic slot with the fine vocals of Ol from Tray of Seagulls. He gave us some original work and some slowed down, mellow versions of  'Seagulls tunes.
    A lone "artiste" took to the stage to welcome us to The Incredible Graham Skak, a spin-off project from the Tuff Rock Dragons' camp. Some mighty fine "artwork" being drawn alongside the avant garde noodlings of Buzzy and co.
     A great deal has to be said about the selflessness of Korova for reforming to play one last gig. Despite only having one or two practices before this event they managed to swamp through most of their back catalogue and fuel the audience with memorable anthems such as Brad and Shame.
    Headlining the night were Earthworm, a band which features our very own drummer boy, Mr Peel, alongside Korova bassist Ben and guitarist and singer Mark Wilson. Think Verve crossed with Gomez and Gong and your half way to the subterrainian sound of this powerful, three-piece combo.
 
 
Saturdays proceedings went very smoothly.....Ahemm. After eventually getting a drum kit we had another virgin band treading the boards. Discarded Lies were a 'Metal band who woke up the early gatherers and showed them who was boss. Featuring ex-W.I.N.T.E.R guitarist Simon on bass they chugged there way through an impressive set of original material throwing in a cover of Judas Priests' hit Breakin' the Law for good measure.
      Guiding us through the nights entertainment was D.J. Rasp, Shakti's effervescent beat master, spinning the decks between bands.
      Hats off to next act, Vinyl who played minus a drummer but showed us they can harmonise with the best of 'em. Incidently, Vinyl brought along a number of their C.d.'s to sell on the night and donated all the proceeds to the cause, so a big thankyou to them.
      Next up were Apone who literally brought the house down, well, the stage floor went through anyway. Sounding like Fugazi and The Offspring in a charnel house they pogoed around and kept the party alive.
   Which leaves the final band of the weekend, Tuff Rock Dragons played their final gig and went out with a bangy kind of sound. All the faves played expertly and insanely as usual. Crackin'!
 
So. A successful event all round.
A big thankyou to Chris and Brad from the Raven, Dave for doing the sound, Gavin and Kim for thier organisational skills, the bands, the punters and anyone who I've forgotten....